The Center of the World

Before leaving home, I was thumbing through a book at Barnes and Noble giving advice to young men. The author, a Brit, advised his readers: "Never live more than 50 miles from London." I really didn't understand that comment at the time, but that was before I fully comprehended just how completely the British really do believe that the capital city of their tiny little island is indeed the center of the universe. I don't know exactly when Britain accepted that the earth revolves around the sun and not the other way around, but I now know that they live with the sure and certain conviction that when God first parted the waters in Genesis, the first thing to emerge was the island of Britain (excepting the Republic of Ireland, of course.) The above two images are examples of what we see all the time. Notice the heading on the first, a map of transatlantic cables, taken at the Royal Institution. The banner reads: "Britain: The World Center." Now look closely at the map we saw today in the London Transport Museum which displays: London, the British Isles (minus the Republic of Ireland) and "All The Rest of the World." Is it any wonder that when Sir Walter Raleigh was locked up and bored in the Tower of London and he decided to pass the time by writing a book called "The History of the World", it turned out to be--surprises, surprise--a book about England.